PRINCESS AI: LUMINATION By Leroy Douresseaux Mar 9, 2006 - 5:22:00 AM

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PRINCESS AI, VOL. II: LUMINATION

TOKYOPOP
WRITERS: Misaho Kujiradou and D.J. Milky
ARTIST: Misaho Kujiradou
192 pp., B&W and Color, $9.99

TOKYOPOP announced PRINCESS AI in 2004 with some fanfare, much of it built around the fact that musician and usurper of Kurt Cobain’s legacy, Courtney Love, was a co-creator. But the actual driving forces behind Princess Ai are artist/co-writer Misaho Kujiradou and co-creator/co-writer D.J. Milky, with character designer Ai Yazawa.

The book, which mixes rock music, fantasy, gothic fashion, and teen melodrama, follows the misadventures of a young woman who finds herself lost and alone in the cold streets of the Shinjuku section of Tokyo. She has no memories of her past, and her clothes are as tattered as her memory, though she knows her name is Ai. Kent, the of-course-he’s-handsome-and-young guy, is a librarian at Shinjuku University. He becomes Ai’s self-appointed guardian.

Ai does have a big problem. She’s a princess from Ai-Land, a kingdom where the ruling humans are at war with their servants, the Angels. Angel assassins from Ai-Land have followed Princess Ai and are ready to kill her because of the war. For some mysterious reason, Ai is integral to the outcome of the conflict. PRINCESS AI, VOL. II: LUMINATION follows Ai’s burgeoning music career here on earth and reveals more of the machinations behind the scenes in Ai-Land.

Princess Ai is the best TOKYOPOP-published manga that I’ve personally read since I picked up Chobits over two years ago. Misaho Kujiradou’s art is simply beautiful – from the page layouts and panel compositions to the character drawings and action sequences. Kujiradou adapts Ai Yazawa’s gorgeous designs and makes them practical for sequential art and storytelling.

This is certainly a teen book, but it’s not like some “Teen Nick” pabulum. Milky’s script and storytelling is engaging. He takes the silliest characters (a jealous gay roommate and a fawning record company assistant) and gives them an appealing personality. Every time I met a character I thought I would hate, I enjoyed what they had to say and (most of the time) the part they played in the story. It seems that Milky (who wrote songs for this series that are included in the back of this volume) and Kujiradou have aimed this series for something higher than the intended audience. They’ve succeeded.

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